"I want this story to have a happy ending."

I'm never really sure how to sum this one up. At first it feels a bit like the tale of two stories, as it takes a while for the main plot to really kick in, with the ongoing b-plot of Max and Logan's impossible situation taking centre stage to begin with. But once the main story-of-the-week really kicks in, it is a rollicking good tale, full of both drama and humour, with character development moving a step forward all around.

The story starts at Max and Cindy's squat. Max is going about her morning routine, getting ready to go out, when the phone rings. It is Logan, sounding breathless, asking if she can come over. Max shrugs that she can maybe drop by later, after taking some stuff to Joshua's, and wonders what's going on. At the penthouse, looking tense, Logan murmurs into the phone that he's got a situation: it's an emergency. Then he hears a crash from elsewhere in the apartment, breathes "oh god, no," drops the phone and rushes away. On the other end of the line, Max is alarmed, and rushes out.

Penthouse. Logan's wheelchair lies on its side on the floor as Max cautiously enters, fearing the worst. The place is a mess…and Logan's feet are sticking out from beneath the sofa, which is strewn with sheets and blankets. Max hurries over – only for a relieved Logan to surface from the makeshift den and express his delight at seeing her. "Eyes Only met his match," he grimly admits.

"Uncle Logan," whines a cute little blonde moppet, popping out from the den beside him. Heh. It's a very cute mislead.



Panic over, Max chuckles and asks the little girl what her name is. The moppet simply snarls at her to go away. "Nice name," Max snarks.

Logan rather desperately prompts little Brittany to say hi, hopefully adding that Max is here to help him take care of her. Brittany says no. Max perks that she took the words right out of her mouth, and turns to leave again. Seeing the cavalry vanishing back over the hill as fast as it arrived, Logan hurries after her, begging for help. His cousin 'Bitsy' called, he explained, with some rigmarole about needing him to look after Brittany for the whole day. Max scoffs at the name Bitsy, and sarcastically wonders where husband Biff is in all this, or the nanny. Logan is past caring. "I don't know. Maybe husband Biff ran off with the nanny. Who cares? I'm exhausted – she won't take a nap! She won't eat anything I give her!" Hee. It's cheesy as hell, and yet I can't help but be amused.

Looking supremely unimpressed, Max mocks Logan's highbrow tendencies as a chef, which it has to be said really aren't all that finely tuned to the palate of a six-year-old. Logan begs again for help. Amused, Max turns the screws and makes him suffer just a little bit longer before caving.

Shouldn't she be at work? Wouldn't Normal can her ass for taking time off without permission, just to babysit?

Max employs a disinterested manner and some chocolate she has stuffed away in her backpack for Joshua as a means of enticing young Brittany, and it works a treat. Logan, meanwhile, manages to dig out a child-friendly book for them to read together – Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid. Why Logan would have that just lying around his apartment I cannot guess.



As Max begins to read the story to Brittany, elsewhere in the city a fishing trawler pulls in to dock. They are dismayed to realise that one of them left the rig out, so that the net has been dragging behind them the whole time, and pull it in to see what flotsam and jetsam has been snared. And amongst the debris pulled from the ocean, they find an actual mermaid! A girl sporting gills, rather than a tail, but very definitely a mermaid. Clearly, this is yet another breed of transgenic, fresh out of Manticore. The fishermen are amazed.

Titles.

Logan's penthouse. Cousin Bitsy has arrived to collect young Brittany, who gives first Max and then Logan a kiss goodbye. Clearly, Max never made it to Joshua's, so we just have to hope that he wasn't desperate for the supplies she was meant to be taking him. Or that he wasn't worried when she failed to turn up.

Having fallen asleep, Brittany wants to know how the story ends, and Max assures her that the little mermaid and her family live happily ever after. Once the visitors are gone, Logan snarks that that isn't how the story ends, that although the mermaid falls for the prince he blows her off for a real girl. Max counters that just because someone happens to have a tail doesn't mean they aren't real, and because she has her back to Logan she doesn't see that he isn't looking so good all of a sudden as he grumbles that his exoskeleton weighs a ton. Still with her back to him, Max ponders the mystery of why writers always go for tragic endings over happy, and a sick-looking Logan admits that he prefers the Disney version himself, commenting on how hot it is. Max finally notices that something is wrong and asks if he is okay. Logan sighs that he thinks he is coming down with a cold – it feels like he has a fever.

But no – Max notices that spots are fast developing on Logan's arm and panics. They hurriedly think back through their interaction all day, but are sure they didn't touch at all. Max remembers that they both touched Brittany. Logan assures her that the virus doesn't work that way, but she reminds him that they don't know that. Logan scoffs that it is one thing for Manticore to give her a retrovirus tailor-made to kill him, but he seriously doubts that they factored a six-year-old into their evil plan. Max remembers that Brittany kissed them both, Max first, and panics anew when she sees spots developing on Logan's face. Feverish, while Max flutters around talking about getting him to hospital, Logan decides to take a little nap and lies down on the table, on top of whatever clutter is on it.



Max frantically reminds him that she can't touch him, that he needs to get to the car under his own steam, but he is too out of it to get up again. He does, however, retain enough presence of mind to suggest that Max hit speed dial 6 to summon help. Speed dial 6 turns out to be Asha.

Wow, this scene-setting opening segment sure does eat up a lot of screen time.

With Asha's able-to-touch-Logan help, Max is able to rush Logan to hospital, where his good friend Doctor Sam Carr scurries into action. Carr and his colleagues scurry around snapping medical jargon at one another, while Logan lies on his gurney looking sick as a dog, and Max and Asha hang around worrying.

Max pleads with Carr to save Logan, who is burning up. Carr asks about the Manticore virus, which, of course, he'd have had no reason to know about before now. They recap for us yet again that the virus is specifically targeted to Logan's DNA, and that with Manticore gone there is no way of finding a cure. Carr takes a beat to gather himself, and then employs his best bedside manner to assure Max that he will do all he can and suggest that she wait out in the hall. Carr gets back to work on Logan, while Max cowers in the doorway, fighting back tears of dread.

Factory. There's some top security going on outside, incongruous with the state of dereliction of the general area. Smell a rat, anyone?

Inside the factory, cunningly converted into special ops HQ, White is busy showing off his prowess with a skipping rope. Or, you know, he's working out. Whichever description you prefer. His hapless sidekick Otto Gottlieb wanders down to see him, but has barely gotten an 'excuse me, sir' out before White passive-aggressively berates him with the rules about fitness time. Otto acknowledges the rule regarding no interruptions, but stands his ground to inform White that they have a lead on a possible code red. This clearly overrides the no interruptions rule, as White instantly abandons his jump rope and heads upstairs, Otto briefing him on the fishermen's discovery of the gilled girl. White instructs his underling to find out more.

Hospital. A distressed Max wanders around, fretting, and finds herself outside the chapel. She goes in and finds it empty, apart from an old lady sitting at the front, head bowed in prayer. Turning to see Max come in, the old lady nods gravely at her. Heartened by this, Max sits quietly at the back and offers up a prayer of her own to a God she isn't sure she believes in, and isn't sure would claim her as his own if he did. "Please don't let him die. I know I don't have a right to ask for a miracle, because I haven't been much of a believer. But I'm asking now. I'll do anything. Please don't let him die."

Just as Max breaks down into hopeless sobs, Asha slips in behind her with good news: Logan is going to be okay. It is just chickenpox – not the Manticore virus after all. Hugely relieved, Max turns to see that the old lady has disappeared, and is bemused.



Jam Pony. Normal takes a pick-up request that just squeaks in under the wire, as his riders prepare to call it a day. Sketchy and Alec are just strolling past, heading for a night out, when Normal calls after them with his usual charm and grace to demand they take the pick-up. Bemused, Sketchy protests that the last pick-up is at seven, and it is seven …but no, Normal insists. It isn't seven for another seven seconds; he wants the work done. Sketchy moans and groans about having to go all the way out to sector 12. Normal threatens his job. Sketchy weakly protests that he's going to miss 'twofers', which Normal counters is not a proper word, and then Alec smoothly steps in.

Alec: "You know, 'two dances for the price of one'?"
Sketchy: "Or two fine ladies dancing simultaneously for the duration of one song."
Alec: "Or you can do it that way."

Normal gets the message. They are going to a strip club. Alec cheerfully adds that Normal is going with them, rather to the amazement of both Normal and Sketchy. Alec, however, is a master of subterfuge and manipulation, and possesses quite the silver tongue. Unable to resist the offer, Normal decides that the pick-up can wait till morning – mission accomplished, from Alec's point of view – and they all head off to the club.

Strip Club. Clearly, Alec has been here before – the bouncer knows him by sight, and one of the dancers hurries over to greet him personally. Someone has been making the most of his newfound freedom. The attention of all three men is quickly drawn to a large water tank in which a young girl is displayed. It is the 'mermaid' from the teaser, there on display for the entire world to see. Normal and Sketchy are delighted and bemused, wondering what the trick is. But Alec, spotting the barcode, immediately recognises her for what she is, a captive transgenic, and is perturbed. "Oh yeah, she's my type, all right."



Hospital. Max pedeconferences with Sam Carr, who confirms the chicken pox diagnosis – turns out, young Brittany just got over it, although Logan had it as a child and therefore should have been immune. "But hey – let's take the win, right?" he soothes. Logan should be fine by morning, he assures Max, noting that she has had quite a scare. "Just be careful." His voice drops to a whisper, mindful of their rather public location. "If it had really been this bug Manticore gave you, I doubt I could have done anything for him. That place knew what it was doing. Whatever they cooked up must be pretty nasty."

Unsurprisingly, this warning does not exactly reassure Max. She assures the doctor that she will be careful, and turns to see Asha wheeling an abashed looking Logan down the hallway. They exchange subdued heys, and Asha makes a tactical withdrawal to bring the car around, leaving Max and Logan alone. She needn't have bothered, though. Max is so strung out by what could have been that she won't let Logan within ten yards of her, and doesn't want to hear that it was just a false alarm. "We got lucky this time," she points out, and hurries away, not wanting to debate the painful pros and cons of continuing any kind of relationship in the face of the virus. But as she walks away down the hallway, she keeps turning to see Logan staring after her.



Squat. Max offloads her troubles to Original Cindy, who can always be relied on to provide a shoulder to cry on and soothing voice of reason in a world gone mad. "Chicken pox? I thought that went out with Starbucks and Madonna?" she scoffs. Heh.

Max is filling the bath with water boiled on the stove. I really appreciate these occasional reminders of the fact that this is a post-apocalyptic society and that the amenities don't always work even for those that pay for them. Max and Cindy are squatting in this apartment; they don't have hot running water. They also have candles everywhere, because the electricity is illicit and intermittent.

Cindy continues trying to cheer Max up, encouraging her to count her blessings and consider this good news. "If I tell you something, you promise not to laugh?" Max sombrely asks, and 'fesses up to praying for Logan in the chapel.

"Ain't nothing wrong with that," Cindy immediately reassures her. "Original Cindy prays from time to time."
"But, see, I sort of asked for a miracle," Max admits. "And I know this sounds crazy, but I think I sorta got it."

Cindy points out that it was just chicken pox, but Max can't get past the fact that Logan had it as a child and should have been immune – although it isn't as uncommon as everyone here seems to think for someone to have it twice – and can't stop fretting that maybe it was her who made him sick. Basically, months of repressed anxiety over the virus situation are coming to a head here. Max feels she has been given a second chance, and those don't come around too often. So now she doesn't want to risk taking any chances at all any more. But that means not seeing Logan at all.

"What am I supposed to do?" she…well, I'd like to say she implores, but really she kind of intones. I usually give Jessica Alba a free pass, as her often flat delivery generally works well for Max's emotional repression. But this scene really calls for more than she is giving it.

Anyway, Max is distressed about the dilemma she is in: should she give Logan up for the sake of his life and health? Or should they continue their unspecified and difficult relationship with extra caution? Original Cindy comes close, touching her forehead to her friend's and holding her, allowing Max to draw strength from her love and support…



"Is this a bad time?" Alec calls from the doorway, but although his tone is light, his expression is grim. Startled to see him there, Max automatically snarls at him. Alec does not respond to the jibe, doesn't deflect or crack a joke – there's not even a hint of the playful banter he usually employs in all circumstances. "I need you to come with me, Max," he says, rubbing his forehead and looking troubled. Max snips that she is getting ready for a bath. "Funny. Women and water. Seems to be the theme of my evening," Alec tiredly sniffs. "Come on."

And then he peels away from the door and goes back to the other room to wait for Max to get dressed, another clear and present sign of just how seriously he is taking this – he's not even pretending to leer at Max in her bathrobe. There's a transgenic – a nomaly – on display in that club for the entire world to see, and that is bad, for all of them.

White's HQ. Otto confirms the code red, giving White both the good news, that the girl has a Manticore barcode, and the bad news, that she was sold to a bar in sector 9 and they have her on display. White grumbles about how difficult this makes things, since he doesn't want to attract any further attention to the situation. The extraction must be clean, surgical, he instructs, and Otto nods that they already have someone in place. That was very pro-active of them.

Street. A solemn-looking chap tears down a poster advertising the mermaid to get a better look at it as he approaches the club. As he enters, Max and Alec approach from the other direction, Alec explaining that the flyers are being passed out all over town and he wouldn't be surprised if White's already onto it. You know, Alec is used so often as comic relief, the layabout screw-up for Max to rag on, it is good to be reminded that beneath that happy-go-lucky, laid-back exterior he is a professional, a soldier – he spent his entire life at Manticore, ten years more training than Max had. And right now that facet of his personality is shining through loud and clear.

Max briskly decides that they have to get the gill girl out of there, which I'm pretty sure Alec had already figured out for himself, since that was the whole point of his going to get Max. Instead of wasting time pointing this out, he presents Max with the next problem: no women are allowed in the club. Unless they are working. And now he does smirk, amusement at Max's predicament winning out over the seriousness of the situation. Max is considerably less amused, all the more so as Alec cheerfully explains the club's hiring procedure: the girls line up out back, and the good ones get picked. Max refuses to even contemplate the suggestion.

"Come on, Max," Alec teases. "Don't sell yourself short. You got a decent shot…" Max hisses at him to forget it. "All right, fine," he shrugs. "Be a prude. We'll just leave her in there for White."

He's got her there. This is the only clean way for Max to get into the bar, and that is the reason Alec is amused, her reaction. This isn't a game, and he isn't wasting time on idle suggestions just to get a rise out of her. Admitting defeat with a very bad grace, Max pulls her jacket off, glares daggers at Alec as she shoves it into his arms, and takes off around the back. Satisfied that she is on her way in, Alec heads back inside himself.

Out back. The show takes a moment to enjoy itself and spotlight its sexy young lead actress, so: cue music and slo-mo as Max sashays her way up to the back door, wiggling her hips and stripping down to tank top as she goes. And of course she is immediately hired, over the crowd of girls already waiting, because she is the heroine of the show, and because Manticore made its children beautiful.

Club. Dancers dance, and revellers revel. Max has eyes only for the girl in the tank. Slipping out back, she gets behind the tank and manages to attract the girl's attention, showing her barcode as a gesture of solidarity. Since Gill Girl's only means of vocalisation is not unlike that of a whale or dolphin, Max communicates with her by means of hand signals. The gist seems to be that Gill Girl should sit tight and wait to be rescued, but she also asks how long Gill Girl can survive out of water, and the answering hand signal indicates only a short amount of time.

Max heads back out into the club, where she finds Alec lounging in an armchair with a scantily clad dancer performing for him. Rolling her eyes, she stomps over. Alec sees her coming, and quickly gets rid of the girl, with honeyed tongue and a handful of cash. "Why don't you go over there and give my two buddies a dance," he suggests. And, it has to be said, that's as neat a means as any of trying to distract Normal and Sketchy from anything that might go down here.

"This is how you rescue a mermaid?" Max launches straight into her attack, but is cut short when Alec quickly grabs her hand and pulls her onto his lap.

"White's got someone here," he murmurs, and she immediately stops struggling and looks around for the man Alec has spotted. "See him? No drink, no girl, he's been casing the place the entire time." Max agrees that the man looks pretty shady, and both quickly look away as he catches them watching him. "Okay, now would be a pretty good time to look like we belong here, huh?" Alec points out.



To show willing, Max starts to rather absent-mindedly play with his hair, still scanning the club, assessing and strategising. "Wow, Max. You've done this before?" Alec snarks, but she snips at him to shut up, wondering why the supposed agent isn't making his move. Alec suggests that there are too many people around and he is waiting for the club to close. For backup, Max realises. Alec pulls her hand out of his hair, irritated that she is messing with it, as he points out that they won't be able to get the mermaid out of the club alive with an agent around. Max wonders how she ended up in such a dump anyway, and Alec relays the tale he heard of Gill Girl's untimely tangle with a fishing net.

Still studying the tank and its surroundings, Max distractedly starts waving a finger back and fore across Alec's chest as all she can come up with by way of pretending to be a lap dancer. It is hilariously un-erotic, and Alec just blinks at her in amazement that after ten years in the world she can't manage any better by way of subterfuge. Max muses that Gill Girl won't last long out of water, so they'll have to get her back to the ocean fast, and starts groping at his face, still paying no real attention to what she is doing and still not looking at him. Recoiling a little from these perfunctory caresses, Alec points out that Gill Girl might not want to return to the ocean, having been snared there once already, and then can't take any more and asks what Max thinks she is doing. "Fitting in!" Max snips, frustrated with the whole situation and taking it out on him, as usual. "She's Manticore. She won't let it happen again."

As Max resumes her supposed 'fondling', Alec teasingly muses that a beautiful girl like that, all alone in the ocean…she's going to get lonely.

Max: "Can we concentrate on coming up with a plan?"
Alec: "I'm thinking."
Max: "You're talking."
Alec: "I can do both."
Max: "I doubt that."
Alec: "Well, you just lost your tip."

So Max smacks him upside the head. Hee. The banter between these two always sparkles. It is a very sibling dynamic that is slowly developing between them, and understandably so. They had the same upbringing, and for all their differences and for all the things they don't understand about each other, whether or not they even like one another half the time, there are many things that these two alone are able to understand about one another.



Elsewhere in the bar, the supposed agent sits and waits, face set like stone.

Elsewhere again in the bar, Normal is having an absolute blast, and we are treated to a mini-montage of his glee as a succession of dancers perform for his money. Yeah, this is a fun episode, but it contains a lot of filler.

Elsewhere in the bar, Alec and Max are watching Normal enjoy himself. Heh – Max is playing with Alec's hair again, and he still doesn't like it. "It's a shame," Alec sighs.
Max disagrees, countering that it is sick. "No, I mean her all alone out there in the ocean. Nothing but fish to talk to."

Turns out, while Max is watching Normal in disgusted fascination, Alec's attention has remained with Gill Girl. Max snorts that the two of them would never work, and Alec gives a long-suffering sigh. "Yeah, you're right. I always do this. I always go for the ones I can't have." And he's just talking for the sake of talking, because that's his comfort zone, because he enjoys winding Max up. But is he just making noise, or is he letting something of a truth slip with that remark? We've never yet seen him show any interest in relationships of any kind other than superficial. But then again, we will learn in a later episode that once upon a time there was Rachel. And if there was ever a time someone fell for a person they couldn't have, that was it.

Also, it is noteworthy that Alec's mood has changed completely now. When he first went to get Max, he was troubled, completely serious. He has lightened up considerably now, though, having handed over responsibility for this mission. When it comes to this kind of thing, he is far more comfortable letting Max take charge. Alec might have had ten years more training than Max did, but Max has had ten years more experience of independence than he has.

Not in the mood to listen to Alec prattling on about nothing, Max shrugs that it figures. Alec pulls her hand away from his hair again. "You should talk," he remarks in conversational fashion. "I mean: hello? You, Logan, the virus."

Talk about hitting a sore nerve. Max grabs him by the lapels and gets all up in his face to snarl at him not to go there, and of course that's the moment Sketchy and Normal wander over and see them together.

"Oh my God," Normal gasps, and has to sit down, while Sketchy good-naturedly beams that he didn't know Max worked here. While Max flails and gapes like a stranded fish, Alec smoothly and oh-so cheerfully tells Sketchy she only works here one night a week…

Taking this in his stride, Sketchy informs his friend that they have to go, as they are out of money. "Normal went kind of nutty with the honeys." He takes off, directing a knowing smirk at the two of them by way of farewell.

"Could this night get any worse?" Max groans. But Alec's attention is elsewhere: something is going on.

A rowdy club patron is smacking Gill Girl's tank, getting aggressive. Max is on her feet at once, but Alec cautions her to take it easy. They still don't have a plan, after all, and can't afford to just rush in, not in a crowded bar.



But they are out of time. Supposed Agent is making his move, striding through the crowded bar with eyes only for the tank and its helpless occupant. "Okay, go get him," Alec decides, and Max takes off.

Smoothly intercepting Supposed Agent, Max bumps into him and starts yelling. "Hey, pal. He touched my ass! Somebody get him out of here." Alec obliges, hustling the man to the exit, and Max, staying in character, yells after them. "That's right. This is a decent place!"

Menace removed, Max retrieves her jacket and pulls it on, casting a last glance back at the captive Gill Girl, before heading outside.

Alley. Leaving the club, Max is swiftly alerted by the sounds of a struggle to the fact that Alec is struggling to contain Supposed Agent. "Little help here," he suggests as SA gains the upper hand and pins him, and Max needs no further prompting to sally unto the fray. Since SA is fully occupied with Alec, he has no hands or attention to spare for Max, who gets in a few hefty blows before hauling him away and shoving him to the ground. A piece of plastic tubing from somewhere amidst his outfit is left in her hand, and both X5s stare in bemusement at it as they realise that SA is sporting gills and a wetsuit beneath his coat. He isn't one of White's men after all – he's a Gill Man!

To make matters worse, shots are fired within the club. Max yells at Alec that Gill Man can't breathe and to help him, and rushes back inside, having to shove past the throngs of terrified dancers and clubbers pouring out. Too late – Gill Girl is gone. Max is dismayed at how badly this operation has gone wrong.

Penthouse. Back at home, Logan sits at his desk looking weary and troubled, as Asha brings him a nice hot drink – looks like herbal tea of some kind. She notes that his welts are gone. Already? Isn't it still the same day? Wow, that post-apocalyptic medicine is good! The fever has also gone, Logan is feeling okay, and when Asha suggests food he realises that he is also feeling hungry.

It is interesting to consider how Asha is used in this episode. It has been heavily implied since the start of the season that she has feelings for Logan, feelings that she has never acted on because she is only too well aware of how he feels about Max. She is never played as a direct rival for Max; her role in the series is more passive, yet pivotal as a means of contrast. Her part in this episode is a good example of that: she plays an integral role in the episode, while always remaining peripheral. And, critically, the point is clearly made that, even as no more than a good friend, she is able to play this caring role in Logan's life that Max can't and maybe never could, maybe even without the virus. Because that isn't who Max is, and her circumstances remain always highly volatile.

Asha heads to the kitchen to make something to eat, while Logan picks up the phone and dials Max's pager. Almost instantly, the door flies open and, pager ringing, Max herself charges in, with Alec helping her half-support half-carry Gill Man. "I'll hit you back in a sec," she calls as the trio hustle into the bathroom, while Alec apologises for the intrusion. Sitting there with the phone to his ear still, Logan can only gape after them in bewilderment.

In the bathroom, the two X5s get their transgenic compatriot settled under the shower, the running water allowing him to breathe more easily. He nods that yes, he can last like this for a little while, and Max promises him that they will find the Gill Girl. He makes dolphin sounds in weary response. Then Max briskly instructs Alec to keep an eye on him, while she heads into the other room to brief Logan and Asha. Left alone with Gill Man, Alec rolls his eyes in disgruntled fashion before making a stab at conversation. "So, the girl in the tank. She's just a friend, right?"

I feel I should be offering some kind of insightful commentary on Alec's interest in the Gill Girl, but I don't really feel there's any deep insight to reveal. He's just being a horndog, playing it for comic relief. The concern he shows for his fellow transgenics in this episode, however, marks a big step forward for his character. He volunteered for this job, after all – in fact, he brought it to Max's attention, rather than her having to drag him into it. That's a big first.

Elsewhere in the apartment, fussing over Gill Man's broken suit, Max tersely explains the situation to Logan, who assures her that there was no way she could have known in advance what was going on. Max is in no mood for sympathy, though. "Either way, White's got her, and that doesn't work for me," she snaps. Logan asks if she has any idea where White would have taken her, and Max guesses that he must have some kind of base of operations in the area. "Manticore was just outside the city. He's got to be thinking Seattle's become transgenic central."

"And it is his job to kill them," Logan sombrely notes, which isn't what you'd call reassuring. "So even if we did track down where he took her – might be too late."

Max says no, however, guessing that White would want to study the Gill Girl first – take her back to headquarters for analysis. Just where headquarters might be is anyone's guess. But Max's point is that he can't exactly put a mermaid on a commercial flight, which means he will have to arrange some sort of special transport, which buys them a little time.

Logan hacks into the sector police mainframe in search of records of any military convoys in or out of the area overnight. While he works, Asha wanders in to get Gill Man's land-suit, saying she has an idea for how to repair the breathing apparatus. With that matter in hand, Max has nothing to do but sit and watch Logan work – from a safe distance across the room.



White's Operational Base. White is on the phone to his wife, apologising for not coming home last night due to a 'situation' at work. This is the first we've heard of his wife, I believe, and it is very jarring, very effective, to listen to this cold-blooded killer sweet-talking his wife and chatting to his little boy while staring dispassionately at the limp figure of the drowning mermaid slumped in her cage. Just an average man doing an unpleasant job. Or so we are led to believe at this stage of the season.

Call completed, White asks Otto how long 'this thing' can survive out of water. Otto says there is no way to be sure, and that they have arranged to ship her out that night. White coldly instructs him to keep 'it' alive as long as possible, as he is sure forensics will want to study 'it' before taking 'it' apart. He's got that de-humanising of the enemy thing down cold. It doesn't matter to him how human or non-human a transgenic might appear to be. To him they are all things, inhuman, to be put down like vermin. It is a chilling point of view, and the reason he makes such an effective adversary.

"I wonder what the hell they were smoking when they cooked this up?" White snarks, prompting Otto to hypothesise that Gill Girl was probably designed for amphibious sabotage. I love that Otto really does try to understand the thinking behind the transgenics, tries to make sense of them. But he never takes that next step, that of accepting them as people at the cost of his job. White doesn't really care what the mermaid was made for, although he is curious as to how she escaped the fire. Otto, ever efficient, promptly provides a plausible explanation, all about connecting streams and rivers, but is interrupted by Gill Girl's dolphin chatter. White rudely shouts at her to speak English, while the all-knowing Otto geeks a hypothesis that Manticore probably used some kind of interface to communicate with her. White does not care, and walks away. Otto eyes the weakening mermaid for a moment, and then dumps a bucket of water over her.

Honestly. How hard would it be for them to fill a tank of water? That way they could guarantee a live sample for forensics.

Penthouse. Asha finishes her repair of Gill Man's wet suit breathing apparatus, apologising for the smell of hot iron on rubber and glue. Max brushes it off, impressed at the improvised repair work. Then she awkwardly thanks the other woman for her help 'the other day'. I thought it was just yesterday. Maybe it feels longer to Max. Asha assure Max that she is just glad she was just there to take the call, and she sounds completely sincere, completely accepting her place as a friend to Logan and nothing more. She has always known that his heart belongs to Max. But that doesn't make interaction between the two women any less awkward.

Alec comes looking for someone to help out with his merman-sitting duties. "The guy's got nothing to say. I'm getting bored." Her repairs complete, Asha gathers up the wetsuit and heads back to the bathroom with Alec to get Gill Man suited up and back on his feet again, giving Alec a playful shove with the wetsuit to get him moving. Have those two met before? I can't remember.

Left alone, Max watches Logan work at his computer for a moment, looking through the door with a fond little smile, before going into the other room to join him. She finds the book she read to little Brittany and picks it up, looking contemplative, then asks Logan if he's found anything. He has – three identical vans leaving sector 9 after the raid on the bar. He plots their route through sector 11 and into sector 12. But they didn't leave sector 12, which means their operational base must be in there somewhere. He's guessing White has set up in one of the abandoned factories in that area, but it will take some time to narrow down. Max quietly says that they don't have any time, and she doesn't say it accusingly, just sounds very tired and sad, but Logan takes it as an accusation and defensively points out that he is doing the best he can, but isn't even sure this is such a good idea to begin with.

That is so not what Max wants to hear, and it is clear that their personal difficulties are hanging over both of their heads as they debate the point. Max is determined not to let White have Gill Girl – and she would doubtless feel the same way even if she didn't hold herself at least partly responsible for the other transgenic's capture in the first place. Logan points out that White could end up with all of them – Max, Alec and Gill Man – if they try to affect a rescue of any kind. Max is willing to take that risk, on behalf of all of them.

Yeah, she is starting to grow into something of a leader now, having always operated as such a lone wolf throughout the show. She's getting used to having other transgenics around, to thinking in multiples – to taking the lead, and to carrying the responsibility for others as well as herself. She stares Logan down for a moment. "Help me with this, Logan." She stands and walks over to him, the closest she has allowed herself to get since the chicken pox scare, to lay the book on the desk before him. "I want this story to have a happy ending."

Alec's voice interrupts, sounding disgruntled as he calls "yeah, well, you're welcome," after Gill Man, who is heading for the door now he is suited up once more. Alarmed, Max hurries over to find out what's going on. It is pretty obvious what's going on: Gill Man wants to leave. Max can't think why.

"Maybe he's smart and he wants to go back to the ocean, where he can breathe and no one wants him dead," Alec snarks.
"Or maybe he knows where White's got her," Max counter-proposes, as Gill Man tugs at her arm for her to follow. "Come on."

Coast. Gill Man takes Max and Alec to a remote, isolated spot, Alec snarking that it doesn't exactly look like White's secret facility. Max is dismayed when Gill Man starts wading into the sea, Alec sarcastically snorting that it's like he said – Gill Man isn't going to die for anybody. But no. He has come to check on something – to show them something. Eggs. A whole cluster of eggs, carefully contained in a bag draped over an old tire, floating at the edge of the water. Alec is grossed out, but Max is delighted. Realising that Gill Girl is Gill Man's mate, the mother of these eggs, she promises to get her back for him – for them.



The whole concept of these eggs is…very weird biology! There are maybe a couple of dozen of them, which is a lot of babies for the Gill Folk to have to care for once they hatch. Assuming, of course, that the babies will be Gill Folk like their parents – it is possible, I suppose, that they will be more fish than human, unlike their parents. Too little is understood about transgenic reproduction, especially the nomaly variety. But if just one breeding cycle can result in this many offspring, assuming a fair percentage of them will survive, that's a whole new species making an impact on the ecology of the ocean, and the potential implications of that certainly provide food for thought. The transgenics didn't ask to be created, but they exist, they are free now – and they are starting to multiply. They are here to stay.

Alec's phone rings. It's Logan. As Alec hangs up the brief call, Max anxiously asks if Logan has found White's place. "Course he did. He always does stuff like that," Alec snarks. Having initiated this entire mission, Alec is in a tremendously sarcastic and pessimistic mood about it now. I suppose when he first saw the Gill Girl and realised he was going to have to do something, he wasn't anticipating the mission turning out to be quite so complicated and involved. And also wasn't anticipating the weird biology of those eggs. Alec does tend to prefer the path of least resistance.

Derelict factory complex. The three transgenics easily sneak through a busted fence and stealthily advance toward the facility Logan has pinpointed as White's base. Max calls Logan to ask if he's sure this is the place, as if all the military vehicles and top security just up ahead isn't proof enough. Logan confirms. "It's an old steam-generating plant; still operational."



Steam-generating plant? There are factories that produce steam? Crazy!

Anyway, Logan believes White must have bribed somebody to let him set up shop on the premises. Max asks how they get in. Logan, poring over the blueprints, rather pessimistically expounds on the subject of how high the security is sure to be, which is totally not what she asked. Not to be swayed from her mission by such negativity, Max says they will just have to go via the roof, but there too Logan has bad news: steel fire doors that only open from the inside. But then Logan finally comes through with a constructive suggestion, telling Max to turn around and look for an underwater drainpipe. She sees it. The pipe leads up into the building, and they have a merman with them.

White's Base. Gill Girl-cam shows us the weakening transgenic's perspective as White and Otto come to peer at her again. Otto wonders if she will last the trip. White coldly shrugs that it is a freezer car, and she should do as well as any other fish. He instructs his men to seal her up, and they start packing her crate into a container.

Pipe. Gill Man swims his way inside the facility.

Outside. Max and Alec begin to make their way up to the roof. You can totally tell when the stunt actors are in shot rather than the regular actors, but never mind. Just go with it. At one point a security guard manages to get up close and personal with Alec, aiming a gun at the X5's head, only for Max, in turn, to sneak up and easily disable him, while Alec wrests the gun from his hand.

Max: "Pay attention."
Alec: "Got us a gun, didn't I?"
Max: "Yippee."

Max's hatred of guns, regardless of the circumstances, is a very consistent character trait.

The two X5s continue their journey to the roof, Alec dismayed at the thought of scaling a pipe without a rope and Max grimly resolved. For all Alec's mild grumbling, he doesn't have any trouble with the pipe, however – I imagine scenes like this are where the fanon of Alec having the same kind of feline DNA as Max come from.

Inside. Gill Man makes it out of the pipe and into the factory undetected.

Roof. Max and Alec sprint toward the door. It is locked tight…but hey. If it only opens from the inside, why is there a handle on the outside? Production flaw! Max frets that Gill Man should be inside by now and wonders if something happened. Alec shrugs that at least they tried. And then the door opens – Gill Man has made it. The X5s head inside.

Inside. The transgenics case the joint. Alec is dismayed by the size of the factory – Gill Girl could be anywhere in there. But then they hear her calling – all whistles and clicks. Gill Man is able to locate his mate by following the sound, and takes the lead now.



It's kind of cool that Gill Man and Gill Girl play such a huge role in this story without having so much as a line of dialogue; both completely mute, dolphin sounds aside.

Elsewhere. One of White's men, whose name I forget, is unable to raise one of his men on the radio. Charlie 6 Bravo is the man Max disabled on the roof, who remains unconscious. Overhearing, White comes over to see what's going on, and instructs his man to call up the agent's eye-cam feed. That does not sound good. Playing back the last few minutes, they see C6B creeping up on an intruder, and White recognises the face. "That's 494. He's supposed to be dead." Such a good memory for name and designation. Or maybe Alec just stood out from the masses. Next, the camera shows Max punching the agent's lights out, and White is further dismayed to recognise 452.

Gill Girl's box is being moved to the transport vehicle, her cries of distress continuing. On a catwalk just above, the Transgenic Trio ponder just how they are going to get her out of there. Before they can formulate any kind of plan, however, an alarm is sounded. Out of time, they spring into action. Characteristically, Max is first to leap from the catwalk to the ground far below, landing cat-like on her feet, disabling the driver of the forklift truck bearing Gill Girl's crate and taking the wheel herself. Gill Man swiftly follows her lead, plunging into the fray, while Alec turns his attention to an agent approaching from above before likewise heading down.

It's fast and furious from here on in. Alec has his purloined weapon, and provides covering fire for the other two while they release Gill Girl from her cage, as White's men close in and start firing. Apparently, they are all really suck shots, but even so the transgenics are soon pinned down, with no exit in sight. This is more or less the exact situation that Logan was afraid of when he pointed out to Max that a rescue attempt could cost all of them their freedom and their lives.



Max has an idea, however – whatever her faults, she is certainly a creative thinker, her willingness and ability to improvise contrasting sharply here with Alec's pessimistic realism. She tells him to cover her – "I'm going for the Disney version" – and dashes back across open ground to the forklift truck once more. Alec has no choice but to comply, raising his stolen weapon to cover Max as she makes her move – not an easy task, as they are surrounded on all sides, and White's men have the upper ground.

Max sets the forklift in motion, and clings to the side both for cover and to steer it, slowly but surely, toward a large steam tank. Still doggedly providing cover for her, Alec takes a bullet through the upper left arm, and has to take a moment to regroup before gritting his teeth and resuming his covering fire, one-handed now, as Max hurries back to him.



White sees the danger too late, grabbing a rifle from one of his men and firing at the forklift in an attempt to prevent it reaching its target. Too late – the forklift hits, penetrating the tank and releasing scalding steam, which shoots up to the catwalk where White and his men are standing, forcing them to fall back.

The transgenics are swift to take advantage of both the distraction and the cover provided by the steam, sprinting toward freedom. White, his face scalded scarlet, fires after them in fury, but to no avail. The Gill Folk retreat into the water outlet, while Max and Alec make their way back up to the roof and out the same way they came in. Clutching at his wounded arm as he runs, Alec nonetheless very capably disables agent C6B once again as he rushes past. "Go back to sleep."

Seafront. Mission successfully accomplished, Logan and Asha have joined the transgenics to watch the Gill Girl reunite with her offspring and return to the ocean, hopefully planning to avoid any and every net in the future. Asha pokes helpfully at Alec's gunshot wound, and suggests they get it cleaned up, while Max thanks him for his help on this mission. These two have come a long way since they were assigned as breeding partners back at Manticore! Neither one would call the other a friend, yet, but they are allies – still more grudgingly than otherwise, too alike in many ways to really get along, but definite allies. Transgenics have to stick together in this hostile world. That's the lesson Max has been preaching from the start, and she is now including Alec in that, while he is now accepting it. She asks if he wants to say goodbye to the Gill Folk, but that's a step too far for lone wolf Alec, so he instead he takes Asha up on her offer of patching up his injury.



Max wanders down to the waterfront, where Logan is sitting quietly, watching the Gill Folk splash around at the water's edge, Gill Girl looking positively radiant at being returned to her natural habitat and reunited with her babies. The couple wave their farewells as they wade toward deeper water.



Max sits down alongside Logan, no longer keeping that cautious distance adopted after the chicken pox scare.

"Well, you got the ending you wanted," Logan tells her.
"They're together. That's the way it should be," Max nods, happy for the couple, and yet clearly also referring to their own situation.
"Yeah," Logan nods. "That's the way it should be."

They share a fond smile, accepting once again that, in spite of everything, they love one another too much not to at least try to be together however they can, and then turn to watch the Gill Folk heading out to sea, under the light of the full moon.


Recapped August 2008

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